DTC 101

In the article Are Humanities Worth Their Keep by C.J. Ducasse, Ducasse examines if the study of Humanities is worth retaining academically. He talked about how the science of the humanities has made many aspects of life possible which in turn they are worth adding to an education. The process of education is greatly valued and this knowledge is needed in developing the intellectual powers. Ducasse then continues to talk about the study of feelings both sensations and sentiments. The different types of feelings that are within these two categorizes have specific feelings that are sub consciously assigned with them. Learning about these feeling is the way to evaluating others around people and the relationships that one may encounter. “The saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and the remark that some men of brilliant intellect are yet scoundrels are but ways of expressing the fact that moral goodness by itself, or intelligence by itself, is not sufficient.” (463) Impersonal art as Ducasse explains is the best for furthering the education of our sensuous discrimination in matters of human sentiments. Humanistic studies not only helps a person to learn ways of understanding the literature he reads but also is educational to the sentiments. “The plain truth is that by taste man is to fundamentally imaginative rather than ‘practical’ and that he pays considerations of practical utility as little attention as he can afford to.’ (470) As an individual the pursuit of knowledge is an intrinsic part. Similarly is man’s development of his faculties and humanities to others. In the end the natural science is not to blame for what humans do or create with the knowledge of them.